A/N: I had this cute image of Cas with his head on Dean's shoulder and that inspired this. The end poetry is mine, which also helped inspire this because I came up with it for the title haha. Enjoy!
It was deep into the night and Sam was already asleep on one of the motel beds. The TV gave the room a soft ambient glow and a bit of white noise in the background. Dean wasn't really paying attention to it, but he just sat on the couch quietly, too wound up for sleep, as Cas relaxed beside him, enthralled with the bright screen.
Dean didn't know what the movie was called, but it was something old, black and white, that had somewhat of a strange plotline. The main character seemed to be a man who bounced back between two women and ended up losing both plus his job and wandered the streets for a long time until he went back to one of the women and apologized. She forgave him and he slowly started his life over again. Or at least that's what Dean thought, considering he couldn't hear any defined words and was only half paying attention.
As the credits rolled, Cas turned to him. "Dean…" he began hesitantly, his gravelly voice soft.
"Yeah?" Dean stifled a yawn and stretched his shoulders as he faced the angel.
Cas pressed his lips into a thin line. "Never mind."
The hunter just gave him an exasperated look. "Just talk to me, Cas."
Cas took a breath and met his eyes for a moment before looking at his hands. "About everything that happened… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry you felt like you had failed me for so long."
"Cas… You don't need to apologize, man," Dean said, looking at him earnestly.
"Dean, let me talk." Cas sighed heavily and the elder Winchester begrudgingly stayed silent. "You don't need to feel like that because you've never failed me. You have always been brave and good and I've been the one who has failed you too many times. All the mistakes that I've made with you—"
"Cas, would you shut up?" Dean suddenly interrupted, grabbing his arm. "I don't care about what you've done. You're here now and I know you always have good intentions, even if it doesn't always work out right. Stop apologizing when you don't need to."
The angel just gazed at him with widened eyes. "What if I fail you again?"
"We'll deal with that when we get there. I know you'll always try, Cas, so would you stop with the whole pity-party thing and just appreciate the fact that you're here now?" Dean took a sharp breath and added, "With me."
Cas looked a little bit shell-shocked and Dean leaned forward to put his arms around his angel. It took him a few seconds, but Cas tentatively returned the gesture and the two clung together for a long time until they both pulled away in favor of just sitting next to each other to mindlessly watch the TV.
Cas leaned against Dean and rested his head on the hunter's shoulder. Dean just put his cheek against Cas' soft, dark hair and their hands somehow ended up together between them on the couch.
It doesn't matter what we were in the past
Or what we are now
Because someday we'll be more than this